Gift of Gold (The Year of Churning Bloods)

by Leone, Hudson

  Umber sighed slightly and darted in between my feet. “Honestly what harm is there in letting the strong one follow through with his plan? How long could it possibly take for him to gather this army of his?” Before I could answer, Umber had continued to speak. “You have a year on your side mortal. It seems useless to worry about these things now.”

  “But that’s where you’re wrong!” I snapped in response. “Finding all of these people is like looking through a field of grass and expecting to find emeralds! These people could be anywhere in the world by now but Gregor doesn’t care because his silly little pride is clouding up his own head.”

  “Has it ever crossed your mind that what you just said is exactly what’s happening to you?” Umber asked with a hint of a smirk playing in his eyes. “You blindly take orders from this Professor Wenchenberg, failing to realize that there may be better solutions to your problem,”

  My mouth fell open in offence “I’m sorry, but did you just say that Gregor’s idea is better than the carefully formulated plan that Professor Wenchenberg laid out for me?” I chuckled to myself but still felt a trace of panic bubble into my throat.

  “Draw your own conclusions,” Umber snapped before floating off into the distance. “I’m sick of leading you around like a blind farm animal. “If you think there’s no problem in carelessly taking oaths and orders from someone else, then by all means, continue to do so. If you chose to leave room for doubt however...” Umber left this last sentence hang in the air before suddenly vanishing altogether, leaving me to myself and my own thoughts.

  “He’s someone that I trust,” I whispered to myself, now at a sudden loss for what to do next. I felt irrationally angry at the mere mention of doubt. Professor Wenchenberg had helped me through and through. His decisions were truly the closest thing you could get to perfection. “Were they though?” I reasoned with myself. “He ended up sacrificing himself even though I didn’t fully understand why.” I looked ahead at Gregor who was quietly puffing away large volumes of air like a well trained machine. “Can Gregor honestly kill Orthonus by himself?” I wondered suddenly. “Could he honestly do any right through these contracts his father had collected over the years, or would he just be robbing normal people of their time and possibly their lives?” The thought of operating an army of living breathing people made me feel uncomfortable.

  “Umber, If you don’t mind me asking, what do you think a prophecy would show us?” Umber silently faded into view as soon as I had addressed him but didn’t say anything for a couple of moments.

  “I haven’t the first idea, although I imagine it’s something quite bad. A prophet takes great pleasure in watching people panic over their own future. As a result they tend to exaggerate the bad, and diminish the good. They're near immortal you know. They have to overcome their boredom somehow.”

  “That’s repulsive.” As soon as I had thought this however, Umber's glow suddenly intensified.

  “You try living for as long as me!” he replied heatedly. “After a while you begin to realize the only fun you get out of anything are the mortals you harass.”

  I looked at him in exhaustion and almost found myself laughing. “Point taken and proved,” I said, giving him a curt nod.

  In a unanimous decision where neither Gregor nor I spoke a word, we both threw our packs off and began to set up camp. I collected dry branches from a fallen tree to pitch the tent, while Gregor tended to animal traps. I reached into my pack and withdrew the anti-cold powder that had been given to us before squinting at the instructions on the back. I found that even though I had read the directions word for word, I still managed to light the spot we were supposed to sleep on fire. I sighed and decided it was simply too much trouble to try and get this spell to work. I instead grabbed nearby rocks to place around the enchanted fire so that it didn't spread.

  Gregor returned after a short while and commented on the strength of the fire before sitting down and removing his boots. We sat in silence while I tried to whittle away the awkward lack of conversation with general movement. I cleared my throat loudly, however Gregor didn't so much as look up. I probably should have known he wouldn't pay me any mind and in all honesty I didn’t know why I wanted his attention. As I sat, the fire seemed to warm every part of my body save for my right hand ring finger.

  I looked down while wondering what was keeping this one section of my hand so irritatingly cold and was somewhat surprised when I saw the fingalink ring. “Preston!” I thought to myself happily. I rushed into the tent and began to speak after that ensuring my voice was only just a whisper.

  “Preston?... Preston? Hello, can you hear me?” The disappointing silence that fell over the tent was only overcome by the distant crackling of the enchanted flame just outside. I waited for what seemed like another few minutes before I tried again in a slightly louder voice. My face fell in disappointment. Was the professor wrong about how far the rings could communicate? What if Preston had lost the ring? Who would find it if that was the case? Would anyone link the Professor with the ring? Questions sprang into the mind one after one in rapid succession. I shook my fist, desperate to somehow make it work.

  “Jaye--?”

  My ears seemed to spring up twenty feet. I strained to listen as the echoed voice of Preston whispered through my mind.

  “--Cob?”

  “Yes? Yes? Preston answer me!” It took Preston another two minutes to make an audible response.

  “Jacob, are you okay so far?” Preston sounded exhausted but his voice still rang shrill with fear.

  “Yeah, I’m okay,” I said, suddenly much more conscious of my volume than I was before. Without waiting for him to ask a follow up question, I began to speak and told him everything I could in the shortest amount of time possible.

  “So you’re telling me that the entire camp is completely underground?” he asked in an unbelieving tone.

  I nodded, but suddenly remembering that he couldn’t see me, replied with a quick yes.

  Preston said nothing for a while

  “There are some things that I could have could have gone without knowing,” he eventually responded in a trembling voice. “That was probably one of them.”

  I frowned in confusion and pressed the fingalink up to my lips.

  “Are you saying that you wouldn’t have wanted to know that?” I responded in disbelief.

  “No It... It was just quite unexpected that’s all. You’re right Jacob. If I were in your shoes I would want you to know everything about the outside world too.”

  “Are you going to tell the Montrose?” I asked quickly.

  “I’ll only tell them if you want.” Preston said earnestly. I bobbed my head back and forth in careful consideration.

  “They’ll probably be angry at me later on, but I think I should just keep this secret between you and me. They should know only if they absolutely needed to know.”

  Preston mumbled an acknowledgement before changing the topic of conversation quite suddenly. “So you actually think you went to Gregor’s old house?” he asked in amazement.

  “I don’t know what he would have been doing in Opundure, but it seems like he could have definitely been living there for a period of time.”

  “How is Gregor anyways?” Preston asked unexpectedly. “Is he mistreating you?”

  “No,” I lied quickly. “No it’s not pleasant working together, but we haven’t gotten into any fights yet.” I sighed slightly as I found myself longing to tell Preston the truth. I wanted to bitterly whine about how Gregor was deliberately ignoring the professor’s plan, but the last thing I needed need was for Preston to worry about me.

  “That’s good to hear,” he said in a sleepy hum.

  “Are you getting tired Preston?” I asked, feeling a smile stretch onto my face.

  “Just a bit,” he admitted wearily. “But we can still talk if you’d like.”

  “No no,” I responded quickly. “I think I’ve said far too much anyways. I’m going to let you
get some sleep. Hopefully by tomorrow I’ll be able to tell you more about where I’m going next.”

  “Stay safe okay?” he asked quietly.

  “Of course,” I said, turning over in my tent and drifting off to a long and uncomfortable sleep.

  Chapter twenty-one

  Totara

  What is this that’s on my mind?

  Am I seeing light or am I blind?

  What is this that I can see?

  Am I nearing death or am I free?

  There are those who always scour the ground

  looking for shadows which can’t be found

  There are those who fear the taste

  Of summer sun.

  There are those who fear the empty space,

  Biding time in just a single place,

  There are those with no word for fun,

  I hope I’m not that one.

  364 days of quest remaining

  I woke up in shivers and came to the weary realization that I was just about freezing. Taking special care not to brush up against the cloaked figure of Gregor, I stepped outside the tent, blowing warm air into my fingers. I fumbled about the dimly lit camp to look for kindling but gave up after noticing that the half frozen dew covered just about everything on the ground for miles. I tried to think about my next course of action but in the early morning cold, my thoughts wandered away from me like a disobedient child. “I should have been a flame warlock.” I thought to myself with an ironic smirk. “All the nice warm fire I could ever want whenever I wanted.”

  I tore some leaves still attached to a dying tree nearby and huddled over the campfire pit to ignite it with my trembling hands. “So what happens if I don’t do it?” I asked Umber, propping myself up against a tree. “What happens if I don’t kill Orthonus, yet I’m still alive next year?”

  “There’s probably a reason why you haven’t been told this yet.” Umber replied calmly. “Having a plan go to such lengths only to fail would cause a great deal of problems would it not?”

  I rubbed my forehead and looked up into Umber uncertainty. “What are you trying to say?” I asked, bringing my knees to my chest and hugging them tightly.

  “I’m saying that there might be consequences for failing this task. This king of yours is playing a smart move by having a single champion hunt this dragon.”

  “Just explain it to me already,” I snapped in response.

  Umber sighed but despite himself, continued to speak. “By sending out one or two motivated scouts to hunt down this dragon, your king makes it seem like he’s taking action to protect the land while literally safeguarding the rest of his thousand man forces. This champion may die, but who cares when the major prize is simply being able to locate the dragon?” Umber suddenly turned somber, before sinking into the shadows. “What were to happen if this champion neither found Orthonus nor died after a year? The people looking after your king would grow irritated again, however this is the clever part: They wouldn’t grow angry at the king, but rather at the champion.”

  “Stop!” I ordered, swinging both of my hands violently. “You mean to tell me that if I don’t kill Orthonus within the time limit, I could be killed by the king’s nobles?”

  The eyes of Umber bobbed up and down slowly. “Most likely,” he said carelessly. “We probably won’t know either way as long as our year isn’t used up.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” I asked in an outrage. “Are you trying to put more pressure on me? Do you not want me to sleep at night?”

  Umber’s eyes gleamed slightly.

  “You may find yourself thinking that Orthonus is no real threat. You may recognize that he’s dormant, yet you do not understand the full capabilities of his power like I do. You don’t know what this dragon is going to do quite like I do.”

  “Is the dragon going to be so vague that it’ll bore everybody to death?” I asked mockingly.

  For a moment I thought I could almost see a shimmer of mirth spark in both of Umber’s eyes. “All I ask is that you take the hunt for this beast seriously,” he conceded in a somewhat warmer voice. “Don’t waste time.”

  I nodded and quietly piled a few more logs on top of the fire, relishing the spread of the warmth which quickly swallowed a notable portion of the camp. “So if Orthonus completely wakes from his dormancy, he’ll be classified as a Corrupted king, yeah?”

  Umber nodded on the spot. “A Corrupted king is a the last and often times longest life cycle of a dragon. Dragons detest growing old more than anything else and will do anything they can to prevent this from happening. As it turns out, the easiest way for a dragon to retain his youth is to consume gold.”

  “I remember this,” I interjected suddenly. “The reason why dragons make hoards of stolen gold is so that they can eat it after they’ve gone through a dormant period.” I smiled slightly before tilting my head on the spot and twitching my lips. “Why gold of all things?”

  “Gold never ages and gold never rusts. Over time dragons have adapted to be dependent on its ageless properties, living hundreds if not thousands of years as a result.”

  “So what’s the problem then?” I asked, stretching up into a more comfortable sitting position. “Orthonus may already have some gold when he wakes up. He’ll simply eat that and be fine from then on.” Umber sighed deeply, clearly irritated by my ignorance.

  “Mortal, dragons are not simply content with having an empty stash. No, even if a dragon had eaten enough gold to last another hundred years, they would still want to bring in as much gold as possible during this time. They don’t risk finding other dragons to steal from due to the danger involved, however they will target the measly humans and their kingdoms.” Umber continued to talk until his voice became the sound of water pattering outside my window back at the camp. I closed my eyes for what felt like a few moments before waking up as something heavy landed on my chest.

  My eyes shot open in alarm and instantly I was blinded by the sudden brightness of my surroundings. How long had I been asleep? It was nearly three seconds after my eyes has fluttered open that I realized Gregor had thrown my pack at me. “Alright alright I'm getting up,” I grumbled to no response. “There’s no reason for you to behave like this.”

  Gregor fastened the straps on his shoulders and turned to face me. “Just shut up and walk,” he growled, storming back into the depths of the Charlie-horse wood.

  Fortunately for me, Gregor seemed to have a better sense of direction throughout the morning, giving a triumphant smirk whenever he felt he was going the right way.

  Seeing as he was doing all the orienteering, I occupied my time by trying to count every third step. Now completely focused on my arbitrary task, I accidentally stumbled into Gregor who cursed and forcefully shoved me away.

  “Have you ever tried not being a silly little toddler for a few minutes Jacob?”

  “What?” I responded with equal annoyance “Would you rather me lead?” Gregor turned sharply on his heels and as he did so I could hear the frost beneath his feet squelch in pain.

  “You wonder why I hurt you, yet you don’t seem to realize how much of an idiot you’re being by making remarks like that.” He advanced suddenly before painfully flicking my nose with his pointer finger.

  “And you think you’re any better?” I cried in angry retaliation. Umber desperately tried to shush me however the heat of the moment caused to keep speaking. “You’re just as much of an idiot for leading us into this forest and getting us lost!”

  Gregor suddenly grabbed me by the neck and kneed me in the gut. I fell to the ground as my last precious breath of air flew out of my my lungs and escaped as a pitiful wail.

  “Get up,” he ordered sternly. I stumbled to my feet and was just about to examine my chest when Gregor threw me to the ground a second time.

  “Get up!” he roared, causing a nearby flock of birds to take flight.

  I shook my head weakly.

  Gregor’s eyes flashed green.

  I screamed and
felt my entire body contort as if every movement was just an instinctive cramp.

  “Get up,” Gregor whispered.

  To my dismay, my legs carefully lifted me up until I was in a formal stance with my both of my hands behind me. Gregor pinched the base of his cubed chin and appraised me with powerful eyes. He lifted up a single hand, and likewise, I involuntarily did the same. Gregor twitched his fingers, but before I could wonder what he was doing, I felt my hand jutt towards my face

  “Why are you slapping yourself?” Gregor asked, steady approaching. He twitched his fingers again and instantly the back of my hand was brought into the side of my jaw. Gregor’s face suddenly melted into an expression of mock concern. “It seems like you have a problem Jacob. Why are you slapping yourself?”

  I coughed slightly and tried to hunch over, however my spine had been rendered immobile.